Well, if you’re going to try to outlast the likes of an Oppenheimer or F1 in terms of legs, I think this takes the crown (until The Super Mario Galaxy Movie this week). With a huge surplus of momentum, rave reviews, and discussions, Project Hail Mary took $54.5 million in its sophomore weekend. It has already passed $164 million in North America and, checks notes, $300 million globally. It ain’t no sequel, prequel, spin-off, remake, or reboot of an already existing cinematic empire, and it’s vaulting over a gargantuan amount of original titles in the last decade alone in terms of legs.
Sure, we can claim that Ryan Gosling has not been a box-office lead, but with a welcome bit of alacrity, this might be his true star vehicle to bank on (if he surely couldn’t do it for The Fall Guy or Blade Runner 2049). This latest chapter has earned more than Nolan’s acclaimed Oppenheimer in weekend two, and if we do the math, that means the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed project will most likely reach $300 million domestically. It could swing even further, but we’ll see what kind of boisterous competition lingers for the April season. Nevertheless, it’s already a must-see attraction and MGM’s highest-earning title thus far. Maybe if MGM can sell more attractions like this, which do not rely on pre-existing IP and more on something fresh and original, they’ll fill 20th Century Fox’s shoes at some point.
In other news, Hoppers earned $12.2 million this weekend and is going to pass $300 million globally by tomorrow morning. Once it passes $154 million domestic (probably by Friday), it’ll be Pixar’s biggest domestic earner since Coco. Again, this writer is curious to see if it will hold out, as the competition will be stiff with Illumination’s latest Mario ride, and kids do love some animated setpieces of renowned characters more than unknown ones…well, let’s simply state that Disney has been making repairs to restore Pixar.
In more atrocious news, They Will Kill You only earned a meager $5 million in its opening weekend. Not exactly the type of news for WB, especially the highs they were on last year (even if Paramount’s bid for acquisition is more graceful than Netflix’s). Maybe it’s the undercutting of the narrative from the first act, or folks were simply dealing with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (which earned $4 million in its second weekend). Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become India’s biggest domestic earner. Reminders of Him has passed $40 million at the domestic box office.
Scream 7 has passed $200 million globally, GOAT has passed $100 million in the U.S. and Canada, and Forbidden Fruits opened with $1.17 million domestically. And The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist opened with $650k from 786 theaters (guess no one wants to watch about artificial intelligence if they’re already bearing witness to it!).
Next week, prior to Easter weekend, we will see the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Drama, Pizza Movie (on Hulu), A Great Awakening, and A Love Like This.
